The saying 'it's like looking in a mirror but thinking you are looking out a window' describes which defense mechanism?

• A. Denial
• B. Projection
• C. Sublimation
• D. Repression

Answer: (B)

This describes projection—the defense mechanism where you take your own unacceptable thoughts, feelings, or impulses and attribute them to someone else. The image of looking in a mirror, then thinking you’re looking out a window, captures the idea of recognizing something about yourself (the reflection) but insisting that the source of it is outside you, in another person or the world. In projection, you’re not owning those inner states; you’re effectively placing them onto others.

Denial would mean you refuse to acknowledge reality at all, sublimation would channel the impulse into a socially acceptable outlet, and repression would push the impulse out of conscious awareness. The mirror-to-window idea best fits the act of attributing your own inner content to others, which is projection.